


A Good Read

by celli



Category: Castle
Genre: BYOSubtext, Episode Related, First Time, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-12
Updated: 2009-12-12
Packaged: 2017-10-18 03:15:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/184393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celli/pseuds/celli
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I wonder if we've read any of the same books."</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Good Read

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thestarsexist](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thestarsexist/gifts).



> Thanks to [](http://dira.dreamwidth.org/profile)[**dira**](http://dira.dreamwidth.org/) for the enthusiasm, [](http://svmadelyn.dreamwidth.org/profile)[**svmadelyn**](http://svmadelyn.dreamwidth.org/) for the beta, and [](http://slodwick.dreamwidth.org/profile)[**slodwick**](http://slodwick.dreamwidth.org/) for the title. Spoilers through 2.11, "The Fifth Bullet"

_Show me the books he loves and I shall know the man far better than through mortal friends.  
\--Dawn Adams_

“Go home, gentlemen,” the captain said, shrugging on his coat as he headed for the door.

“He’s got a point,” Esposito said. “You don’t want Jenny to pitch a fit.”

Kevin rolled his eyes. “Jenny doesn’t pitch fits. And I told her I’d be home late.”

“Fine.” Esposito shut down his computer and stood. “I’ll check in on Jay and take off.”

“Go ahead and go; I’ll keep an eye on him.”

When Kevin looked up, Esposito was staring down at him, his eyes intent. Kevin raised an eyebrow; Esposito shrugged and snagged his keys off the desk.

“Later,” he said.

Kevin listened to him leave as he paged through some material on art forgeries Castle had found for him.

It was an hour later when Kevin tiptoed toward the couch and tried to make Jay’s face out in the shadows.

“Detective Ryan?”

Kevin winced. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up.”

“You didn’t,” Jay said, his voice raspy. He sat up on the couch, and in the light coming in from the hallway Kevin could see his reddened eyes. “I thought everybody was gone, so I was taking some time to feel sorry for myself.”

“I could leave,” Kevin said, not moving.

“I wish you wouldn’t,” Jay said.

Kevin eased himself onto the end of the couch Jay had vacated. “I know there’s nothing I can do, but--is there anything I can do?”

Jay huffed out a half-laugh. “I don’t know.”

“Well, think fast.” Kevin patted the back of the couch. “I’m programmed to fall asleep when I come anywhere near this thing.”

“Right. Okay. Um…tell me about you.” Jay turned to face Kevin.

“Seriously?”

“Seriously. Like...I assume your first name isn’t Detective, Detective Ryan.”

“I’m thinking about having it changed,” Kevin said dryly, and Jay snickered. “No. It’s Kevin.”

“Kevin Ryan.”

“Kevin _Patrick_ Ryan.”

“Wow, that’s...pretty Irish.”

Kevin laughed.

“And?”

“And.” Kevin’s brain was helpfully blank. “And I’m a cop--I bet you picked up on that. Third generation. And I’ve...um...never read Crime and Punishment.”

That got a full laugh from Jay.

“I read the Cliffs Notes once.” Jay laughed harder. Kevin gave him a playful shove. “I passed the test, didn’t I?”

“What do you read? Forensic textbooks? Articles on interrogation?”

Kevin refused to answer that directly, since he would have to say yes. “I like crime novels. Just not long Russian ones where the characters each have four names.”

“I wonder if we’ve read any of the same books. Maybe I don’t really like crime books. Maybe I only like Russian books.”

“Maybe you’re a fan of Westerns,” Kevin said.

“Maybe biographies--which would be ironic.”

Kevin pointed his finger at Jay’s nose. “You look like a self-help kind of guy.”

“Do I really?”

“No.” Kevin grinned. “Not really.”

Jay batted Kevin’s hand away, and Kevin realized suddenly that they were close to each other. Like, really close. He had one hand on the couch behind Jay’s back, and the other had fallen next to Jay’s knee.

Jay seemed to realize it at the same time, and went still beside him. With his face half in shadow, he looked older suddenly, and more solemn than Kevin had seen him yet.

They sat there staring at each other for a long moment, and then the phone in Kevin's pocket beeped, and they both jumped.

Kevin fumbled the phone out. "Oh, that's Jenny. That's my girlfriend."

When he looked back up, Jay's face was neutral and pleasant again. "I'm sure she's waiting up on you. You should take off."

"Are you sure you--"

"Yeah, oh, yeah." Jay waved a hand. "I'll sleep like a rock now. No worries."

"Okay, um--" Kevin clapped a hand on Jay's shoulder. "Take care. I'll see you first thing in the morning."

"Thank you," Jay said behind him as Kevin hurried away.

***

Kevin nodded at the sergeant on duty, who waved him in to the holding cell hallway. They were mostly empty, except a guy snoring off a bender on one end and Jay--Jeremy--on the other.

Jeremy was sitting cross-legged on the bench in his cell, eyes closed, tapping one hand against his knee and humming a tune Kevin couldn’t quite make out. Kevin rapped his knuckles against the bars. “Hey.”

Jeremy’s eyes popped open, and he jumped to his feet. “I am _so_ sorry,” he said.

Kevin blinked. “What? Jay, we put you in jail. Why are you apologizing to me?”

“Because--I don’t know.” Jeremy jammed his hands into his pockets. “You guys spent all that time being nice to me and trying to help me, and the whole time I was the killer.”

“Listen,” Kevin said, leaning up against the bars. “All I know is, we don’t know the whole story. And Beckett and Castle don’t stop until they do. This case isn’t over yet.” He looked Jeremy square in the eye. “You got me?”

“Okay.” Jeremy came close to a smile for a second. “Thank you.”

Kevin nodded and took an awkward step back. “I, uh--I brought you something,” he said.

Jeremy looked at the sign behind him, which said in all-caps, _NOTICE: DO NOT GIVE ANYTHING TO INMATES._

Kevin stared at the sign he’d only seen about five million times. “Oh, shit.”

“I’m sorry,” Jeremy said. “What--what was it?”

Kevin held up his copy of _Heat Wave_. “It’s Castle’s newest book.”

“Oh. I like him, right?”

“According to him, you’re a big fan.” Kevin grinned. “He based all his characters on us. I figured it would be cool to sort of recognize people.”

“That would be _awesome_ ,” Jeremy said, his eyes going wide and a little vulnerable.

Kevin sucked in a quick breath. “Um...I could read it to you.” He looked over his shoulder at the far cell. “I don’t think your friend down there will mind.”

“Could you? That would be--thank you. But don’t you need to go home?”

Kevin put his hand in his pocket, where his cell phone wasn’t--he'd left it in his desk drawer. “Don’t worry about it.”

Jeremy smiled.

Kevin busied himself finding a folding chair and dragging it within a few inches of the holding cell door. “Okay. Ready?”

He looked up to see Jeremy settling on the edge of the bench, looking at Kevin like he was Santa Claus and a fairy godmother all wrapped up in one. “Go for it.”

Kevin opened the book and focused all his attention on the words.

“’It was always the same for her when she arrived to meet the body.’”

***

Four months later, Kevin walked into the squad room, notebook in one hand and cell phone in the other, and stopped dead when he saw Jeremy standing awkwardly near his desk.

"Hold that thought," he said, and hung up on Beckett.

Esposito was sitting at his own desk, phone to his ear, but he was keeping Jeremy in peripheral view.

"Hi there," Jeremy said as Kevin approached.

"Hey." Kevin stopped a few feet away. Jeremy's hair was a few shades lighter, and he had a little less stubble, but other than that Kevin couldn't see much difference. "It's good to see you, man. You look great."

Jeremy waved a hand in Kevin's direction and then stuffed it back in his jeans pocket. "Yeah, you too."

They stood there, half-smiling at each other, until Esposito muttered something under his breath and dropped his phone back in its cradle. "I've gotta go do a door-to-door," he said. He walked around Jeremy, ignoring him completely, and past Kevin.

Kevin put up a hand to stop him. "Do you want me to come with you?" Behind Esposito's head, he could see Jeremy drop his gaze to the ground.

"Nah, I'm good." Esposito reached up and banged his fist lightly on Kevin's shoulder. "Catch up when you can."

Kevin turned back to Jeremy as Esposito's footsteps faded behind him. "So, did you get your memory back?" He shook his head. "I'm sorry--that's probably the only thing anybody asks you."

"It's okay." Jeremy tipped one shoulder up in a shrug. "I have some bits and pieces back. Mostly...impressions, you know? I like stuff, or hate stuff, and I know there's a reason, but..." He trailed off.

"Well, that's something," Kevin said. "And how's, how's things with the wife?"

"The ex-wife," Jeremy said, and Kevin might be imagining it, but he seemed to have moved just a little closer. "The very much ex-wife."

"Oh, sorry, man."

Jeremy shook his head, keeping his eyes fixed on the floor.. "It's not--she's great. She deserves way better than me. And I think I know why we split. It turns out one of the things I found out I liked...is. Um. Guys."

Kevin shifted his weight forward. "I see." He cleared his throat. "That's interesting, because my split with Jenny was kind of similar. You know, minus the amnesia and bullets."

"Oh," Jeremy said. He raised his eyes to look Kevin full in the face. "Oh."

"Yeah," Kevin said.

They stood there, a few inches apart, each with his hands in his pockets, and smiled at each other until Kevin's phone beeped and they both jumped.

"Crap, that's Beckett," Kevin said, grabbing for his notebook. "I've got to--I'll be--do you mind--?"

"I know where the couch is," Jeremy said. He pointed to Kevin's desk, where a paperback copy of Castle's _Storm Rising_ sat. "I think I can keep busy for a while."

"Okay." Kevin took a couple of steps away, stopped, and turned back to Jeremy.

" _Go_ ," Jeremy said, and was still laughing as Kevin walked out the door.


End file.
